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Summary
This is a reference for the words that turn up in IT emails, error messages, and helpdesk replies without ever being explained. Each term gets one plain sentence, a note on where you are likely to meet it, and a link to the full guide where one exists.
Before You Start
- None required. Read it end to end once, or use your browser's find function (Ctrl + F, or Command + F on a Mac) to jump to a term.
Instructions
1. Accounts and Signing In
| Term | What it means | Why you'd hear it |
|---|---|---|
| MFA (multi-factor authentication) | A second proof of identity on top of your password — an app prompt, a code, or a fingerprint. | Every sign-in from a new device or location. Covered in How to Understand MFA and Prevent Account Lockouts. |
| SSO (single sign-on) | Signing in once with your work account, then getting into other approved apps without typing the password again. | When an approved app recognizes you without asking for a password. If it asks anyway, your session has expired — see How to Tell if Your Microsoft 365 Account is Signed In Correctly. |
| Conditional Access | A rule that decides whether to allow a sign-in based on who you are, what device you are on, and where you are. | The cause of most "you can't get there from here" blocks. See How to Fix "You Can't Access This From Here" Conditional Access Errors. |
| Tenant | Your organization's own private space inside Microsoft 365, holding its accounts, mailboxes, and files. | "That file is in a different tenant" means it belongs to another company and your account is a guest there. Understanding Your Microsoft 365 Account — What You Can (and Can't) Change covers the boundary. |
| Directory (Active Directory, Microsoft Entra ID) | The master list of every account, group, and device in the organization, and what each is allowed to do. | Password and account questions, because there can be two directories with two passwords — Understanding Password Resets — Active Directory vs. Microsoft 365. |
| Passkey | A sign-in method that replaces the password with your device's fingerprint, face, or PIN. | Rollouts replacing passwords entirely. See How to Use Passkeys Instead of Passwords in Microsoft 365. |
| Account lockout | A temporary block after too many failed sign-in attempts, designed to stop someone guessing your password. | Usually a phone or tablet still trying an old password in the background. |
2. Files and Storage
| Term | What it means | Why you'd hear it |
|---|---|---|
| Sync | Keeping the copy of a file on your computer and the copy in the cloud identical, automatically. | The green tick and blue arrows on your OneDrive folders. When it stalls, see How to Fix OneDrive Sync Problems — Pending, Stuck, or Files Not Uploading. |
| Cloud | Files or services that live on a provider's servers and are reached over the internet rather than stored only on your machine. | "Save it to the cloud" means OneDrive, SharePoint, or Teams rather than your desktop. |
| On-premises | Servers and storage your organization owns and runs itself, usually in its own building. | Network drives with letters like S: or H:. Understanding Network Drives vs. Cloud Storage — Where to Save Your Files explains which to use when. |
| Quota | The storage limit on your account — mailbox, OneDrive, or a SharePoint site. | Warning emails before uploads or sends start failing. See How to Manage Your OneDrive and SharePoint Storage Quota. |
| Version history | The stored earlier copies of a file, kept automatically every time it is saved to the cloud. | Recovering from an overwrite or a bad edit without a ticket — How to Restore a Previous Version of a File in OneDrive. |
| Files On-Demand | Cloud files that appear in File Explorer but download only when you open them, so they take no disk space until then. | Why a folder shows thousands of files on a laptop with little free space. |
| Permissions | The rules that say who can open, edit, or share a given file or folder. | Every "access denied" message. |
3. Networking
| Term | What it means | Why you'd hear it |
|---|---|---|
| VPN (virtual private network) | An encrypted tunnel from your laptop to the company network, so you can reach internal systems from anywhere. | Working from home or a hotel. See Understanding Your Company's VPN — What It Does and Why You Need It. |
| DNS (domain name system) | The internet's address book — it turns a name like outlook.office.com into the numeric address your computer connects to. | Pages failing to load while the connection itself is fine. See How to Fix "DNS Server Isn't Responding" on Windows. |
| IP address | The numeric address identifying your computer on a network, such as 192.168.1.42. | Any network ticket. Find yours with How to Find Your Computer Name and IP Address. |
| Proxy | A server that your web traffic passes through on the way out, so the company can filter and log it. | Sites that load at home and are blocked at work — How to Fix "This Site Can't Be Reached" Browser Errors. |
| Firewall | The barrier that decides which network traffic is allowed in or out of a device or network. | Apps that cannot connect until an exception is added. |
| Bandwidth | How much data your connection can carry at once — the width of the pipe, not the speed of one file. | Video calls breaking up while a large upload runs. See How to Troubleshoot Slow Internet or Network Performance (User-Level Steps). |
| Latency | The delay before data starts arriving, measured in milliseconds. | Calls that echo or talk over each other despite a fast connection. |
4. Devices and Management
| Term | What it means | Why you'd hear it |
|---|---|---|
| Group Policy | The mechanism that applies the same Windows settings to every company computer at once. | Greyed-out settings. "That's policy" means it is set centrally — How to Fix "Your Organization's Policies Are Preventing Us" Error. |
| Intune | Microsoft's device management service — the cloud equivalent of Group Policy, and how apps and settings reach laptops and phones. | "We'll push it via Intune" means the change arrives on its own. |
| Enrollment | Registering a device with your organization so it is recognized as managed and allowed to reach company data. | Setting up a phone for work email — Understanding Company Portal, Device Management, and Your Privacy. |
| Compliance | Whether a device meets the security rules (up to date, encrypted, screen lock on) required to access company data. | The "device not compliant" block on phones. |
| Image | The standard build of Windows and apps that IT installs on every new machine. | "It'll come with the standard image" — see Understanding What to Do When You Get a New Computer — First-Day IT Checklist. |
| Driver | The small piece of software that lets Windows talk to a specific piece of hardware — printer, webcam, dock. | Hardware that stops working after an update. Drivers arrive through Understanding Windows Updates — What They Are and Why They Matter. |
| Company Portal | The app on a managed device where you install approved software yourself. | Software requests that need no ticket — How to Install Approved Software (Company Portal / Self Service). |
5. Email
| Term | What it means | Why you'd hear it |
|---|---|---|
| Exchange | The Microsoft mail system behind your work mailbox. Outlook is the app; Exchange is the service it talks to. | "Exchange is having an issue" means mail delivery, not Outlook on your machine. |
| Mailbox | Your account's mail storage — messages, calendar, and contacts, held on the server rather than only on your laptop. | Size warnings. See How to Manage Your Outlook Mailbox Storage and Avoid "Mailbox Full" Errors. |
| Distribution list | One address that forwards to a fixed set of people. Nothing is stored at the address itself. | Team-wide announcements — How to Create a Contact Group (Distribution List) in Outlook. |
| Shared mailbox | A real mailbox, such as support@, that several people open alongside their own, with one shared set of messages. | Team inboxes. Compared side by side in Understanding Distribution Lists, Microsoft 365 Groups, and Shared Mailboxes. |
| Phishing | An email or message designed to trick you into giving up a password, approving an MFA prompt, or paying an invoice. | Security awareness mail. Learn the tells in How to Identify a Phishing Email. |
| Spam filter | The service that sorts unwanted mail into Junk before it reaches your inbox. | Missing messages that turn out to be in Junk Email — How to Manage Junk Mail and Spam Filters in Outlook. |
| Delegate access | Permission for a colleague to read, send from, or manage your mailbox or calendar on your behalf. | Cover during leave. |
6. General IT Words
| Term | What it means | Why you'd hear it |
|---|---|---|
| Cache | A local store of recently used data that an app keeps so it loads faster next time. | "Clear your cache" — the stored copy has gone stale. See How to Clear Browser Cache and Cookies. |
| Patch | A fix released by a software vendor, usually for a security hole or a bug. | Patch Tuesday and monthly restart reminders. |
| Reboot | A full restart, which clears memory and finishes pending updates. Closing the lid is not one. | The first thing IT asks, for good reason — How to Fix Common Computer Glitches by Restarting. |
| Ticket | A tracked record of your request in the helpdesk system, with a reference number and an owner. | Every support request. Write a good one with How to Submit an Effective IT Support Ticket. |
| License | The paid entitlement attached to your account that unlocks a given app or feature. | Apps that open in read-only mode or refuse to activate — Understanding Microsoft 365 Licensing and Plan Differences. |
| Admin rights | Permission to install software and change protected Windows settings. Most work accounts deliberately do not have them. | Installers that stop with a password prompt — Understanding IT Policies: Why You Can't Download That App. |
| Escalation | Passing a ticket to a more specialised team when the first line cannot resolve it. | Long-running issues. |
| Known issue | A fault the vendor has confirmed and is working on, with no local fix available yet. | Outages — What to Do When Microsoft 365 Is Down. |
Tip: When a reply from IT contains a term you cannot place, ask directly: "Can you tell me what that term means for me — is there anything I need to do?" A one-line answer now saves a day of waiting on a ticket you misread.
Troubleshooting
INFO
Terminology varies between organizations. Some call the ticket system the service desk, some call a device build an image and others call it a gold build. If a phrase in a reply does not match anything here, it is almost certainly a local name for something on this list rather than a new concept.
| Symptom / Error | Potential Cause | Solution |
|---|---|---|
| "We'll push that via Intune" | Change is delivered by device management | Nothing to do on your side. Stay connected to the internet and restart within a day so the change applies. |
| "Clear your cache" changed nothing | The wrong cache was cleared | Each app has its own. Browser cache is not Teams cache — see How to Clear the Microsoft Teams Cache. |
| "You're over quota" | A storage limit has been reached | Identify which one — mailbox or OneDrive — then free space using the quota guide in Section 2. |
| "That's a Group Policy setting" | Configuration is applied centrally | The setting cannot be changed on your machine. Ask IT to update the policy, and give them the exact setting name and the business reason you need it. |
| "It looks like a DNS issue" | Name lookups are failing | Your connection works but names are not resolving. Follow the DNS guide in Section 3 before raising a ticket. |
| "Your license hasn't been assigned" | No plan attached to your account | Ask IT to assign the license and name the app you need — for example, "I need a Microsoft 365 license that includes the Project desktop app." |
Related Articles
- How to Submit an Effective IT Support Ticket
- Understanding Your First Week of IT — What to Set Up and Why
- Understanding Where Your Files Live — OneDrive vs. SharePoint vs. Teams
- Understanding Your Company's VPN — What It Does and Why You Need It
- Understanding Microsoft 365 Licensing and Plan Differences
- Understanding Company Portal, Device Management, and Your Privacy
- How to Do a Monthly Laptop Maintenance Check